Congress Refuses to Strip Telcoms of Eavesdropping Immunity
Obama Votes with the People. Â Clinton Stays Home.
  Our civil liberties took another blow to the gut today when the senate rejected an amendment to an intelligence bill that would have stripped immunity from telephone companies, making them accountable for unlawful eavesdropping.  Despite congress being in democratic hands, the bill failed and the telcoms remain immune from any lawsuits pertaining to wiretapping.  the only thing assuaging my anxiety is the knowledge that Barack Obama voted with people today, giving me some hope that the tyranny is ebbing.  What did Hillary do?  She stayed home.  An interesting choice considering her relentless critisism of Obama’s present votes on key issues.
Shakeup in Clinton Camp over Campaign’s Mismanagement
Much has been written about the mismanagement of the Clinton campaign from the poor use of funds to the positioning of Clinton as an incumbent type candidate.  The scapegoat for this is Patti Solis Doyle who stepped down after this weekend primary sweep by Barack Obama, ending a decade and a half of loyal service to Clinton.  A perusal of the comment section of my favorite blogs suggests that Clinton supporters are hailing the move as long overdue.   Â
In today’s Atlantic, Josh Green expounds on the fissures in Hillaryland that date back to her Sentate campaign in 2000:  Â
In one sense, Solis Doyle performed exactly as Hillary had hoped. Somewhat to my surprise, the long-standing fissures in Hillaryland never truly erupted when Clinton came under presidential-campaign pressure, certainly not the way they did in 2000. For all the chaos and disillusionment with Clinton’s performance so far inside the campaign, very little of it had leaked to the press until just recently. And despite her late start, Clinton did not lag on the money front: she has raised $175 million since winning her Senate seat in 2000, which should have been enough to fund a formidable campaign, even one that dragged on as long as this one has. That the money was so obviously mismanaged and Clinton was essentially left helpless to compete in last weekend’s primaries and caucuses is the reason Solis Doyle ultimately had to go. The problem, as before, was mismanagement — only this time against a worthy enough opponent that the cost was obvious to everyone.Â
Paul Krugman and Nixonland
Paul Krugman must have banged his head before penning this mornings column (Hate Springs Eternal). He begins by deriding the vitriol of the current democratic campaign, using an upcoming book–Nixonland–as a comparative statement on negative politics. After notching strong points on the sleaze of smear and innuendo politics he bathes in those same waters himself, comparing Barack Obama to perhaps the most reviled Democratic foes of all time, Richard Nixon and George Bush.
The Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality. We’ve already had that from the Bush administration — remember Operation Flight Suit? Â
What exactly is Krugman’s beef with Obama anyway? Is he so hung up on health care mandates that he’s willing to be Hillary’s bitch? Yes she is sober, she is ready (snore), and she is serious–all the things that put her on which side of the Iraqi argument? And I thought Krugman was an Edwards man. Hidden not so subtly in the piece’s subtext is the notion that Obama’s supporters–so drunk on Kool-Aid–are immature and even deluded. Now here he might have something. Not that one is delusional because they can be inspired, but there is this air among some Obama’s supporters - a we know better attitude that you found among Deaniacs in ‘04 - that is a bit grating and has polarized some HRC supporters. They are note sole heir to the internet/web2.0/meme/bloggosphere/anything hip generation. How come nobody ever claimed Bill Clinton was inspirational? And how come Krugman didn’t note the delicious irony that Hillary was a Nixon supporter? Actually if we want irony how about when this whole thing winds up in front of the Supreme Court, because now it’s the Democrats who have disenfranchised voters. The pledged delegates go for Obama, but the unelected Super Delegates throw the nomination to Hillary.
How are they going to juggle that one?
Ten Blatant Lies Made By or About the Candidates
Here is a universal truth for you-politicians lie.  They lie because we let them. As a public we don’t really question much, we just passively accept what we are given as truth. They know this and just keep hauling it against the wall seeing what sticks. Whether they are whispers about lesbians, Muslims, tax hikes or crack pipes they know that if a notion drifts along the political wind long enough it will become fact and thus these poison darts will forever be a weapon in a campaign’s arsenal. Here are ten of the more infamous lies made by or about the candidates in the past few months: Read more
Momentum Back on Obama’s Side
Weekend sweep puts the wind at his back. Â Chesapeake Next.
 Like a baseball team winning it’s playoff home games, the Obama campaign did what it was supposed to this weekend taking 5 of 5 home games-Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, the Virgin Islands, Washington State-and recapturing crucial momentum going into Chesapeake Tuesday. More important than just holding serve, Obama’s wins were decisive, allowing him to increase his lead among pledged delegates and make a convincing case to Super Delegates that his is the campaign best positioned to beat John McCain in the fall. To date Obama has won 19 of the 29 states thus far contested, a 2/3 margin. The next five contests are District of Colombia, Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii, and Wisconsin, all of which he is projected to win. From a delegate standpoint these wins would be offset by Clinton victories in Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but the combination of ten straight victories coupled with the ability Obama has shown to win anywhere-north, south, east, and west-among whites, blacks, young, and old. This has to weigh heavily among Super Delegates who burn to return the White House to Democratic hands.As for Tuesday’s contests, current polls are showing Obama with commanding leads in both Maryland (53%-35%) and Virginia (53%-37%). Â
Delegate Count Makes Convention Battle a Near Certainty
It’s All About the Super Delegates
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The way the Delegate battle has gone so far it is almost impossible for the Democratic nomination to be decided before Denver’s convention.  With a total pool of 3253 potential delegates, 2025 needed to win the nomination, and roughly 900 won by each so far, there are 1400 remaining delegates to decided this contest.  This means that to wrap this up prior to the convention a candidate would need to win more than 1,100 of the remaining 1,400 delegates. An analysis of the map shows this as an impossibility. Â
The next 7 or 8 contests heavily favor Obama and Hillary should do well in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Â If just that much holds true it secures enough delegates on each side to push this to Denver. Â Then there are myriad other factors that makes a pre-convention decision unlikely. Â The party is split too closely between Obama and Clinton to expect a sudden 80% break in any one direction. Â Barring something crazy happening or some scandal breaking, for the first time in 30 years a primary is going to be decided at the convention. Â This one will be decided by the Super Delegates.Â
What is a Super Delegate anyway? Â Unlike regular delegates who are legally bound to vote as consistent with primary or caucus results, a Super Delegate can vote any way they please. Â Another way to refer to them would be as unpledged delegates. Â Super delegates are normally made up of current elected officeholders, former elected officeholders, current party officials, and former party officials. Â Their creation was an attempt to keep control of the nomination process in the hands of party officials rather than the primary process. Â
Who is winning among Super Delegates?
Currently there are 178 Super Delegates supporting Hillary Clinton, a list that includes:  Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Walter Mondale, Maxine Waters,  Marion Barry, Barney Frank, Dick Gephardt, Jon Corzine, Robert Menendez, Eliot Spitzer, Chuck Schumer, Terry McAuliffe, and Sheldon Silver.  A complete list can be found here. Â
Currently there are 90 Super Delegates that are supporting Barack Obama including:  Patrick Kennedy, Dick Durbin, Jesse Jackson Jr., Ted Kennedy, Deval Patrick, John Kerry, John Conyers, Tom Daschle, Patrick Leahy, and Rick Boucher.  The full list can be found here.
Conventions of recent vintage have been criticized as little more than four-day parties with scripted outcomes, but that hasn’t always been the case.  In 1976, Ronald Reagan battled President Ford all the way through the primaries.  Ford had just enough delegates to win entering the convention.  Reagan worked hard to woo some away; Ford worked equally hard to keep them.  Ultimately Ford won by a slender margin on the first ballot, but not without a ton of back room brokering.   Â
In 1952 it took three ballots for Adlai Stevenson to win the Democratic nomination.  Republicans went three ballots in 1948 to give Tom Dewey the nomination over Ohio Sen. Robert Taft.  Perhaps the most famous battled convention was in 1924 when Democrats went through 103 ballots over nine days in New York to settle on John W. Davis, a Wall Street lawyer and one-term congressman, ending the brutal duel between New York Gov. Al Smith and Californian William McAdoo, the two leading candidates.  Adding to the drams was that many delegates were Ku Klux Klan members, virulently opposed to Smith, A roman Catholic.  Davis–seen as someone above the fray who could help heal a party nearly torn to the seams–was chosen and ultimately lost the presidency to Calvin Coolidge.  Â
While 2008 might not be a return to those turbulent days, the coming months should bring political drama the likes of which has not been seen in years.  Â
Eight-Year-Old Needles and the Case Against The Rocket
That was a fine garment Roger Clemens wore at his deposition this week-the grey pinstripe-although it did look eerily similar to the prison garb he’ll be wearing a few months from now.
I don’t know about you, but this sudden smoking gun in the form of decade old syringes saved by Clemens’ trainer, Brian McNamee, gives me reason for pause. Â
Who in their right mind saves medical waste for eight years?Â
The Anti-McCain Movement
They cite his Ideology, but conservatives really just don’t like him.
  The conventional wisdom is that conservatives oppose John McCain because they feel he is too liberal.  While he has staked out positions at odds with the conservative establishment in campaign finance reform, amnesty for immigrants, support for cap-and-trade, and opposition to the Bush tax cuts, he really has not strayed from the conservative line much more than George W. Bush - no child left behind, immigration reform, prescription drug benefit, farm subsidies, steel tarrifs - who is held close to the conservative heart (though not as much as he was).  The ideological argument just doesn’t make a ton of sense in explaining the animosity McCain’s own party feels for him.  More likely it is that they just don’t like the senator.  There are rumblings about McCain’s temperament that have been around for years and even questions of his mental fitness due in part to his years in a Vietnamese prison camp.  Many of these whispers, which have been spreading around the internet recently, have originated in conservative circles.  Conservatives have also never forgiven McCain for his behavior in the 2000 primary.  His references to Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as agents of intolerance caused the evangelical wing to view him as an enemy and his television commercials comparing George W. Bush to Bill Clinton were widely hailed in his party.  Causing even greater distrust, though were McCain’s staunch opposition to the Bush tax cuts as tax cutting is the hallmark of the conservative agenda.  What does this all mean?  Well, if one looks a little deeper at McCain’s supposed “big night” last night they’ll see that most of his victories came in states that republicans tend to lose in the general election.  The so called “red states” went mainly to Mike Huckabee.  There is no way a republican can win in November without winning the south and with the widespread distrust of John McCain in those regions it seems very plausible that those voters might just stay home this fall.  If that happens we will be looking at a President Obama or a President Clinton.  It’s hard to imagine that is more preferable to republicans than a President McCain.Â
Obama Well Positioned for Stretch Run
To the shock of no one, the results of Super Tuesday on the Democratic side were inconclusive.  With the exception of Connecticut there were no big surprises.  Clinton hung on to Massachusetts, New Jersey, and California, helped in part by early voting that took place prior to Obama’s recent surge.  That he kept himself in the game and within a hundred delegates of Clinton has to be viewed as a victory by Obama’s campaign.   With his superior fund raising - Obama raised nearly a million a day last month, more than twice that of Clinton - and ability to spend time in individual states, gaining face time with voters the turf seems to be shifting towards Obama.  The longer the contest grinds on, the better positioned Obama becomes and one reason why his aids were claiming victory last night. Perhaps the evenings only real loser was Ted Kennedy whose endorsement was not enough to help Obama win his home state of Massachusetts or California where he campaigned vigorously for the candidate. Â
Mitt Romney - Lies, Lies, and More Lies
The Republican’s held their final pre-Super Tuesday debate this past Thursday at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California and against the backdrop of a reassembled Air Force One, Mitt Romney stretched, distorted, and manipulated the truth, attempting to shield himself from his competitors attacks. Among his many Fibs:Â
